An airport in Indonesia. A hydro-electric dam in Pakistan. A gas pipeline in Russia.
The Chinese government is funding these infrastructure projects, and many more. โOne Belt, One Road,โ a portfolio of infrastructure investment modeled vaguely on the old Silk Road, is the poster-child for this effort, even though observers find it an ambiguous label, not easily distinguished from the rest of Chinaโs lending. In recent years, Beijing has become the single largest lender to poor economies seeking to emulate Chinaโs export-driven path to an explosion of economic growth.
Instead, with the coronavirus pandemic, many of these same countries are facing a recession.